horrific

adjective

hor·rif·ic | \ hȯ-ˈri-fik

How to pronounce horrific (audio)

, hä- \

Definition of horrific

: having the power to horrify a horrific account of the tragedy

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Examples of horrific in a Sentence

horrific images of torture that shocked the conscience of the world

Recent Examples on the Web My wife’s breakup, some 15 years ago, was horrific. — BostonGlobe.com, "Wife wants to go on a college tour with her ex," 2 Apr. 2021 That can be anything from female genital mutilation, which is horrific, to female infanticide, where girl babies are not valued, to assault on grown women. — Alia E. Dastagir, USA TODAY, "Gloria Steinem reflects on her decades-long fight for equality, the violence women are facing," 25 Mar. 2021 Child survivors are often left with horrific injuries, and PTSD and trauma that can last a lifetime. — Angelina Jolie, Time, "Angelina Jolie: Millions of Children Are in Danger. We're Not Doing Enough to Protect Them," 18 Feb. 2021 When the Nazis bombed Bari, a Mediterranean port city central to the Allied war effort, on December 2, 1943, hundreds of sailors sustained horrific injuries. — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, "The Ten Best History Books of 2020," 1 Dec. 2020 Here at home in Minnesota, we were devastated by the horrific mass shooting in Georgia that killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women. — Star Tribune, "Readers Write: Immunizations, immigration, Asian Americans, mass shootings," 26 Mar. 2021 This week's episode was recorded before the horrific mass shooting by a white gunman in Atlanta on Tuesday, March 16, which killed eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent. — Lale Arikoglu, Condé Nast Traveler, "How Has the Travel Industry Supported the Black Community Since Last Summer?: Women Who Travel Podcast," 24 Mar. 2021 There’s a contemporary political compulsion to immediately inject a horrific shooting into ongoing debates about types of weapons and the terms for acquiring them. — James Freeman, WSJ, "Before the Shooting," 23 Mar. 2021 Gonzalez told the news website Mundo Hispanico that moments after the horrific shooting, when he was anguished by the uncertainty of what had happened to his wife, he was briefly arrested and handcuffed by police officers who had arrived there. — BostonGlobe.com, "What we know about the victims of the Atlanta shootings," 21 Mar. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'horrific.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near horrific

horribile dictu

Statistics for horrific

Last Updated

20 Apr 2021

Cite this Entry

“Horrific.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/horrific. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021.

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More Definitions for horrific

horrific

adjective

English Language Learners Definition of horrific

: causing horror or shock

See the full definition for horrific in the English Language Learners Dictionary

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